chaos07 Posted April 16, 2022 Share Posted April 16, 2022 Are there any resources out there that show the rear canopy blackout curtain in early Phantoms? I've come up empty after searching the net. Only a few pics from the outside and from a distance. Cheers. Duane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Greengrass Posted April 16, 2022 Share Posted April 16, 2022 (edited) Not the greatest but the best I can find in my collection. I've obviously over exposed the images in an attempt to show the detail. Hopefully someone else will have a better image. Edited April 16, 2022 by Peter Greengrass Uncarina, chaos07 and daveculp 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Greengrass Posted April 16, 2022 Share Posted April 16, 2022 and here's a colour version. Looks like the actual curtain was olive drab (at least on the outside) chaos07, Uncarina and cmayer 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaos07 Posted April 17, 2022 Author Share Posted April 17, 2022 Thanks Peter! This is exactly what I was looking for. Cheers. Duane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldbaldguy Posted April 17, 2022 Share Posted April 17, 2022 Color photos of early B model F-4s in my dad’s CV-59 Med cruise cruise book indicate the curtains are black. I thought the RIO’s canopy was painted black on the inside for the longest time until somebody here straightened me out. I vote for black over OD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Greengrass Posted April 17, 2022 Share Posted April 17, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Oldbaldguy said: Color photos of early B model F-4s in my dad’s CV-59 Med cruise cruise book indicate the curtains are black. I thought the RIO’s canopy was painted black on the inside for the longest time until somebody here straightened me out. I vote for black over OD. I vote for a Greyish Green Edited April 17, 2022 by Peter Greengrass Uncarina, cmayer and chaos07 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Greengrass Posted April 18, 2022 Share Posted April 18, 2022 After posting the photo above of 105, I noted that there's a string running lengthways along the top of the aft canopy. Presumably to provide both a means to keep the blackout curtain up and to assist in drawing the curtain forward and back (though former RIO, Jan Jacobs informed me once that it (the curtain) "Didn't last long. Would come forward on a trap, plus it was just a general pain-in-the-ass to move forward and back") A couple more photos that show this string (the second photo comes from an accident report from my collection, the ejection seat is out of its normal position as it broke loose and moved forward during the crash landing) Rockie Yarwood, chaos07, easixpedro and 1 other 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easixpedro Posted April 18, 2022 Share Posted April 18, 2022 Yikes. I'm hoping the RIO's seat was unoccupied during that event. He'd have eaten a sizable chunk of that instrument panel. Great pics otherwise and thanks for sharing. Always amazing to look at the number of changes the Phantom went through in that real short timeframe from introduction and the early years of Rolling Thunder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Greengrass Posted April 18, 2022 Share Posted April 18, 2022 41 minutes ago, easixpedro said: Yikes. I'm hoping the RIO's seat was unoccupied during that event. He'd have eaten a sizable chunk of that instrument panel. Unfortunately it was occupied. He survived though received major injuries. easixpedro and cmayer 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Greengrass Posted April 18, 2022 Share Posted April 18, 2022 Dawned on me that RAF Phantoms had the curtains fitted when initially delivered Rockie Yarwood, cmayer and chaos07 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaos07 Posted April 22, 2022 Author Share Posted April 22, 2022 Peter, Many thanks for the references. This was exactly what I was hoping for! Cheers. Duane Peter Greengrass 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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